The 2024 Ashland University Athletics Hall of Fame class has it all – national Hall of Famers, Olympic gold medalists, national championships, national Academic All-Americans of the Year, and much more.
Ashland's 48
th Hall of Fame class will officially be inducted during the Ashland University Hall of Fame Induction and Student-Athlete of the Year recognition, Oct. 5 at 9:30 a.m. at the John C. Myers Convocation Center – prior to the AU football team's 100
th Homecoming game at 1 p.m. vs. Ohio Dominican at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field.
There are seven 2024 Hall of Famers, and one 2024 Eagle Forever Award winner, and information on all eight honorees follows.
ROBYN FRALICK, WOMEN'S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH/ASSISTANT COACH, 2008-18
Fralick was wildly successful in 10 seasons with Ashland women's basketball – seven as an assistant and three as a head coach. She was an assistant for the Eagles' first national championship in 2012-13, and their first national runner-up finish in 2011-12, then became the program's head coach following fellow Hall of Famer
Sue Ramsey's retirement. In three seasons guiding Ashland, Fralick finished with an unheard-of record of 104-3 (.972), the program's second national title and its second national runner-up finish. The Eagles were 37-0 in 2016-17, the first 37-0 team in NCAA Division II women's basketball history, and she led the team to a D-II women's basketball-record 73-game winning streak.
After a stint with AU in which she was a two-time Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) national Coach of the Year and three-time Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, Fralick spent five seasons as head coach at NCAA Division I Bowling Green (88-73, three postseason appearances, 2021 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year), and just finished her first season leading D-I Michigan State, finishing 22-9 and reaching the NCAA Tournament.
SHEILAH GULAS, HEAD SOFTBALL COACH, 1997-2017
Gulas began as Ashland University's head softball coach in 1997, and it didn't take long for her Eagles to make their mark on the conference, regional and national level. Her 1998 team was 53-6 (.893), which still is the best team in the history of the program. After 21 seasons leading AU softball, Gulas finished with a record of 723-365-1 (.664), 12 NCAA Division II postseason appearances, and five 40-win seasons. Her Eagle teams never had a losing record, and she was named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 1998, 2009, 2010, and her last season of 2017. Gulas coached six eventual Ashland Hall of Famers, as well.
Combined with her time as head coach at both Wittenberg (1991-96) and Allegheny (1987-90), Gulas' career collegiate head coaching record is 929-487-1 (.656). That success over a 31-season career led her to being inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Hall of Fame in 2017. Gulas also was inducted into the Allegheny Hall of Fame in 2018.
KATIE NAGEOTTE MOON, TRACK AND FIELD, 2011-13 (CLASS OF 2013)
Moon started soaring as an Eagle after coming to campus following a stint at NCAA Division I Dayton, and still is soaring at an elite level to this day. She was a two-time NCAA Division II national champion and three-time D-II All-American in the pole vault, and continues to boast school pole vault records both indoors (4.27 meters/14-feet-0) and outdoors (4.44 meters/14-feet-6¾).
Since graduating from Ashland, however, Moon has taken her pole vault career to new heights. The delayed 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, saw Moon win a gold medal for Team USA with a top vault of 4.90 meters/16-feet-0¾. Her career-best vault of 4.95 meters/16-feet-2¾ is the fifth-best in world women's pole vault history (indoor/outdoor combined), and she also is a two-time world champion and a world silver medalist. Moon also is a member of the 2022 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II Athlete Hall of Fame.
KARI DAUGHERTY PICKENS, WOMEN'S BASKETBALL, 2011-13 (CLASS OF 2013)
Pickens fashioned possibly the best back-to-back NCAA Division II women's basketball seasons in history after she came to campus from NCAA Division I Dayton. In helping Ashland to a national runner-up finish in 2011-12, then the program's first national title in 2012-13, Pickens collected 1,414 points and 903 rebounds – still 12
th and fourth on the program's all-time list, respectively. She still has D-II records for most consecutive games with a double-double (34), and most field goals and rebounds in a D-II women's basketball tournament (56 and 95, respectively).
At the top of the lengthy list of Pickens' playing honors are two Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) national Player of the Year awards, 2012-13 Daktronics National Player of the Year, 2012-13 Capital One Female Student-Athlete Academic All-American of the Year, 2011-12 and 2012-13 Honda Sports Award NCAA Division II Female Athlete of the Year, 2012-13 Capital One Academic All-America of the Year (women's basketball), and 2012-13 Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
After her playing days, she stayed with the AU women's basketball program – first as an assistant coach, then as head coach. She helped the Eagles win the 2016-17 national title after an undefeated season as an assistant, then, in her first six seasons as a head coach, has gone 173-11 (.911) with an undefeated season and national championship in 2022-23. Pickens is the only woman in D-II women's hoops history to win national titles as a player (2013), assistant coach (2017) and head coach (2023).
KURT ROBERTS, TRACK AND FIELD, 2006-11 (CLASS OF 2011)
The history of Ashland University's throws program is well-known in track and field circles, and one of the Eagles right at the top of the list is Roberts. He won three NCAA Division II shot put national championships – as a sophomore outdoors in 2009 (18.78 meters/61-feet-7½), and as a junior and senior indoors in 2010 (19.79 meters/64-feet-11½) and 2011 (19.48 meters/63-feet-11). His best indoor mark of 19.80 meters/64-feet-11½ puts him as the No. 5 man in the event in D-II history, and his top outdoor heave of 19.55 meters/64-feet-1¾ puts him at No. 18 in all-time D-II men's shot put annals.
Roberts also boasts seven D-II All-American citations, all in the shot put (four indoors, three outdoors). He was a two-time U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) men's Midwest Region Indoor Field Athlete of the Year (2008-09, 2009-10), and 2009-10 USTFCCCA men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year.
MARK SAVOIA, WRESTLING, 1987-92 (CLASS OF 1992)
When Savoia earned his third NCAA Division II All-American status as a senior in 1992, he became just the seventh Eagle grappler to be at least a three-time All-American. A 150-pounder, Savoia finished fifth in the country as both a junior and senior, and took seventh in D-II as a sophomore. His finishes at nationals helped Ashland to place 15
th as a team in both 1990 and 1992, and 14
th in 1991.
Savoia was a two-time regional champion (1991 and 1992), and was regional runner-up in 1990. He also was voted the Eagles' Most Valuable Player as a senior, and co-MVP as a junior.
JULIE WIDMANN HOLSTEEN, SWIMMING AND DIVING, 2009-13 (CLASS OF 2013)
When conversations about all-time great Eagle swimmers begins, they always include Holsteen, one of the last Ashland women to earn an NCAA Division II national championship. She earned national titles at four consecutive D-II nationals (2010-13) – three as part of the 200 freestyle relay, and in 2012 individually in the 100 backstroke. Widmann also was a 23-time D-II All-American, and the 2013 Capital One Academic All-American of the Year (at-large).
A two-time first-team Academic All-American, Widmann also was 21-time All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and an eight-time GLIAC champion. She continues to be the AU women's standard-bearer in the 50 free (22.60 seconds), 100 backstroke (54.42 seconds), and as part of the 400 medley relay (3:45.34), 400 free relay (3:23.53), and 800 free relay (7:37.04).
The seven new Hall of Famers bring the overall total of AU Athletics Hall of Famers to 231.
Joan Berry Kalamas is the 2024 Eagle Forever Award recipient. Kalamas is a Lecturer of Business and Management at AU, joining Ashland faculty full-time in 2009 as a Professional Instructor of Business Management. For the past 15 years, she has been a Professional Instructor of Business Management, and in 2017-18, was awarded the AU Taylor Teaching Excellence Award.
Kalamas, an Ashland alumna, can be seen in the stands at almost all home Eagle sporting events, and also has served on Eagle athletics' hiring committees. She is the 28
th Eagle Forever Award honoree.
Tickets for the induction brunch will go on sale on June 3. More information on tickets will be announced on GoAshlandEagles.com and on AU athletics' social media channels.
